ultrafanfandomcom-20200214-history
Ultraman Flare: Episode 7
Appears * Dark Strychnine * Shadowroids * Kaiju Weapons * Space Humanoids: Basiks Part 1 The Ultranoid flew through space, his body red with gold markings, gold protectors, and his eyes had a green tint to them, while his color timer was also green. He flew via a warp stream that he had generated on his own, to bend space time to achieve faster than light speeds. His name was Flare. "Father..." said the Ultra. "What is it?" asked a disembodied voice "Why do we fight?" "Because we're both stubborn." Flare found it difficult to tell if he was serious or not. "That is not what I meant." "The conflict between the Eldritch and the Divine was set in motion at the beginning of All." "What do you mean...?" "Light and Dark, good and evil, hot and cold." "Disparity...?" "Before the first dawn, the 'world' was grey, formless, pointless. With the first rays of light there was the darkness to war against it. At the most fundamental levels, all things are made up of particles of light, the positive, and the dark, the negative. This truth is more than parable, the world is defined by its disparity and it is the light that made that so, that works to keep it so. All the universe is a song, a chorus, we keep the music going." "And the Eldritch...?" "We of the light are outside this...balance, but we work to maintain order, in our own different ways. The Eldritch are outside this balance also...but they scheme to steal all, to conquer all, and the balance does not adhere to that idea, of their darkness ruling everything. So they chase away the light, their darkness swallows it, but in the end, all they bring to the chorus of creation...is Silence." "So we're the good guys? "You already know the answer to this. Good is a choice people must make, we fight for existence, so that this choice has a place to be made. Mortals may fail, but they will do so in their time, and chose their own destiny, even if they do not see what they have chosen, or understand, we will safeguard their freedoms." "...Do we have any choice in this...?" "Choice...is for the trivial...not for things such as I..." "I...? Not, 'us'...?" "May no mistake my 'child', you are now less my child and more my subordinate in all ways but our relationship. I no longer hold the divine right to order you about. You must do as you must. Turn left." Flare turned and found himself heading towards a star system, but it was odd, he sensed waves of energy, not light, nor simple radiation, but he sensed this energy and he knew it to be...evil. "What is wrong with this planet...?" "What you're here to fix, dodge." "What-?" The flaming ball of plasma struck Flare in the shoulder, exploding and knocking him off course and out of warp. He tumbled onto an asteroid, causing it to also fall through space uncontrollably. "Ugh...all knowing, yet he doesn't know when to warn me ahead of time..." Flare grumbled. He flew up on instinct, dodging the next fireball which shattered the asteroid he was on. His eyes looked across the distance to zoom in on the thing that attacked him, a kaiju...of sorts. It was the basic kaiju shape, an upright lizard, with a beetle shell on its back from which organic ports extended out to spew out plasma, a blue smoke with sparks of electricity, that was pushing it through space. However, there were tubes and metal panels about its body and its eyes had the shine of optics. Flare's Ultra eyes scanned it, indeed, much of its body was synthetic, special plastics and robotics mimicking organic design where it could, but this was entirely inorganic. The creature fire more plasma bombs at him, and Flare countered with a string of punches, knocking them out of the way, and swatting them of course. His body shined and he moved across the void like a blur of light, slamming into the monster. The two locked arms and grappled and thus tumbled through space. The creature opened its mouth to spit fire again, but Flare kicked up, shutting its mouth closed and freeing himself, and continued with a side kick that sent the machine beast tumbling through space. Flare crossed his arms into the cross position and fired a beam. The monster stopped and back Flare, its reflective shell diffusing the destructive beams of Flare's beam. "Oh come on!" shouted Flare "Was this thing...made...to fight Ultras...?" he said with heavy suspicion. The beast turned around and roared, Flare's eyes caught the rise in infrared radiation, the rise heat, which usually meant a weapon was going to be fired, this heat was centered around the diode under its chest. Flare crossed his arms and brought up his fists, covering his body in a green, golden energy, ethereal flames. The beast fired a dense beam of plasma, and Flare's color timer shined as his body shined and he moved like a blur. The plasma was scattered against his speed and the cloak of energy he wore. He moved towards the machine beast, with one fist extended and became too fast for the human eye to see. Before the beast knew it, Flare was behind him. It looked down at the hole in its body and the green and gold energy the flashed within it uncontrollably before it screamed and exploded. Flare turned around and turned his head to the distant planet. He put his fists together in front of his color timer, the sphere of energy that formed around them expanded and his body disappeared into it as it sped of towards the distant planet. Part 2 What Flare found was a strange little mix of contradictions. On one hand, the world was beautiful, green, a temperate world with a strange desert in the center of it. There were settlements, sporting clearly advance technology, but they were small and relatively scarce. If the natives of this world could build such things, why do they cling to such small settlements, why did they center around the outskirts of this rather strangely placed desert. Flare headed in, onto be caught be surprise, when his travel sphere slammed into a previously unseen field of energy and he was reflected away like an errant blaster bolt. The vehicle stopped in front of the crater, a circular blackened wound on an otherwise green backdrop. The vehicle, somewhat like a jeep, moved without wheels and instead had hovered over the landscape, pushed forward by small ion thrusters in the back. The occupants got out, a man and a woman, both with blue hair and eyes, and wearing somewhat casual clothes. Both were armed with rather long, rifles, similar to hunting rifles, but clearly not meant for hunting rifles given the glowing bits and advance synthesized materials used to make them. They ventured onto the crater, one of them sporting a handheld scanner, the gentleman. "Bio-signs are somewhat impressive..." he said. "One of his...?" she asked raising her blaster, ready to fire. "I don't think so, this is organic, not synthetic like his monsters, the readings are also rather conventional aside from the high bio-activity. Humanoid, definitely." They spied over the crater and sported Luke on his stomach, unconscious in the center of the crater. There was darkness...no, there was simply no light, there was nothing. That was where Flare's mind had wondered, had drifted to, still connected to his life, his body, but it was drawn to this place... "The Lord of Cinders has run hollow..." Said a voice, or was it? To Flare it was less a voice, and more of a thought, a presence in his mind he had never noticed, that he now pondered how long it had been there. It spoke with his voice, but it was not his voice, not his tone, not his feelings, a cold black void that whispered with pure contempt and hate, a silent anger so harsh and cold, it was like fire. "..The venom that felled him was not the snake's" "Snake...? What Snake...?" thought Flare. "The Lord of Cinders lied, he is neither order nor fire." "What, what do you know about my father?!" "The Wise God was silenced with madness, so he could take his place." "...Who are you...?" "The child of the sun draws his strength from the void, my void, my strength." "What, I don't I am not yours!" "You are not the only child of the sun lord. Flare." Flare opened his human eyes and shot up with enough force to send the blanket to the other side of the bed and surprise the two humanoids sitting next to him. He was afraid, with a cold sweat, and he...could not remember why. It felt like his blood war burning, like the dark curse was in his veins. Then he remembered it was, but it was suppressed, rendered unable to claim him by his new powers. Flare, 'Luke', turned to the two blue hair humanoids staring at him from across the room. The youth looked at them with his jade green eyes. He has slightly tanned skin, black hair, and wear a grey brown shirt and blue jeans and sneakers, while a red scarf was wrapped around his neck and shoulders. "Uhm...hello...?" he asked. One of the humanoids, the female, had picked up a blaster rifle and trained it at him. She made a comment in a language he didn't understand, not at first, but there was a ringing in his ear, a sharp, quick pain, as information was quickly uploaded to his mind. "Who are you?!" shouted the female Basik. "Sister, call down down." said her brother, who stood up and tried to force the gun barrel down. "You can say that after we figure out who he is! For all we know he's one of that bastard's creations!" "I'm sorry who...?" asked Flare. "The knife ear bastard that did all of this! Do you work for him?!" She shouted. "No..." said Flare "How can we trust you...?" "I was sent here to stop someone, something, I suspect it's your 'knife eared bastard'." said Flare getting out of bed and standing tall. The woman was still not trusting, but her brother finally got her to lower her weapon. "Oh..." said a figure. He was surrounded by large device with glowing parts and stains of rust. Some of the devices and machines glowed from their screens or buttons, others had parts that were open to the dark room, and glowing a sinister deep blue. The figure, wearing a long white coat with a red strip and numerous pockets, stood in front of a trio of large rectangular screens. The ones on the side showed data and schematics for his monster, and or data graphs for resources he had stored and was using. The one in the center showed a battle from the machine monster's perspective, and from satellite perspective, from a distance. "Flare...? Sol's favored Ultra form...? Yet something is different..." He worked on the computer, and the machine began analyzing the data and comparing it to data to another Ultra, that looked nearly exact to Flare. "Hmmm, a slight green tint to the silver portions of the armor...ah, an unknown energy signature..There power of the blue light is in this giant, but also...an unknown power, curious...and I do think that golden glow is one of Cinders... My, my Sol, what little concoction have you sent for me to dissect?!" Part 3 "We don't know his name..." said the female Basik. She sat with her brother and Flare at the small metal table, eating a grey gruel. "He just came here one day and unleashed 'them' on the colony. They were giant...beasts, cyborgs I think. They destroyed the colony's main city, and left us stranded here..." "Didn't your homeworld send a search team...?" asked Flare. "The wretch has set up a scrambler..." said the brother "and we suspect, any ship that arrives is destroyed by those monsters...how did you get here...?" "I flew..." said Flare. The two just gave him a look. "Personal pocket dimension in a spherical energy mass, capable of warp." "Huh..." said the sister "and how do you...generate this...'field'...?" "It's a mix of my own biology and a device. However, I'm more interested in shield over that desert." "That desert is where he took root, where the colony was based, we were a thriving city once...but now..." "Maybe that's why I was sent here, but what is he doing...?" "Sent..." said the sister "by whom...?" "Hi, I'm Luke, also known as Ultraman Flare...?" The two looked at him. "Ultra...what...?" asked the brother. "Oi, this may be a long stay..." said Luke rubbing his eyes. "I'm Jerris, this is my sister Vas, and what exactly is an Ultraman...?" "Well technically it's Ultranoid, and I'm a giant..." they looked at him. "I can transform..." "That...breaks all laws of conservation that we know off..." "Fair enough, but it's true, I fought one of those giant monsters on the way here. Thing was a robot..." "Wait..." said Vas "A robot...?" "Well, a mix of synthetics and robotics, in a bizarre...cyborg analogue. It's brain seemed to have organic components mixed in with circuitry, but for the most part, it was a robot." "I don't...what's the difference...?" "Synthetics..." said Jerris "They are made of plastics and inorganic materials meant to mimic organic materials. Robotics is just robotics, and Synthetics is a branch of that." "So he's building...fake giant monsters..." said Luke "Why...?" "Why indeed..." said Vas. "If it weren't for that shield, I could get at him..." "Shield...?" asked Jerris "What shield...?" The ground trembled, earth shook and the building moved about. All three of them ran outside, onto the rather deserted farmland to see 'it'. A mount of dirt rose up in the distance, before just as quickly exploding, dirt being thrown everywhere as the creature made its way to the surface. The thing was like many typical kaiju, an upright lizard like creature with thick skin, but this one sported a large drill for a horn, sticking out of its head. Its claws were also horns, spinning about. Its skin was thick, black scaly armor. It roared with a thunderous high pitched screech. Luke's eyes glowed from their dark centers. His vision zoomed in on the beast but also pierced the hide of it to see what was inside. More hydraulics, metallic muscle fibers, synthetics, wires, tubes, etc. Once again he was faced with a machine in the form of a monster. "It's another one of 'his'..." said Luke. "Any idiot could've told you that...!" shouted Vas "Why is it here...?" "Who knows, maybe me, put I make sure to hide my energy signature. You guys need to go!" "This is our farm!" shouted Vas. "We can't just abandon all we have left...!" continued Jerris. "I will lead this thing away just go!" Luke ran off to the distance, leaving the twins stunned at the speed he could achieve. He ran off to the woods, along the way he fired a bolt of energy at the monster machine's face, catching its attention. The robot proceeded to stomp after him into the woods. Luke moved quickly avoiding trees branches, before stopping and turning to face his opponent. He reached into his pocket...and his transformation device was not there. Luke panicked and then looked up, the machine monster looked down at him, and its horn drill flashed for a second before it fired a beam at him. Chapter 3 Luke was sent flying through the air, but it was less from the explosion and more his own ability to jump. Practically flying, he hit the ground rolling, got up and proceeded to keep running. "Huh..." said Jerris "I wonder why he hasn't transformed..." The twin were in their hover jeep watching as the monster marched away firing beam after beam. "Perhaps..." said his twin "It's because he needs this...?" She pulled out a gold and white marble wand like device "You stole that from him? Don't you think he needs it...?" "If he has it, he may just leave and where would we be, besides I didn't and don't trust him. Who knows what this does..." "He probably needs it..." "Do you want to drive up to that thing...?" "A fair point..." Luke hid behind one of the larger trees, his hunter somehow having lost sight of him. It was firing wildly about, causing a forest fire. "Okay, dad, please, could do with some help here..." there was nothing "Right...you made it clear, I'm supposed to be autonomous..." Luke clasped his hands together, and they began to glow with a red, gold and green energy, electricity arced between and around his hands before the energy began to spin at high speeds until it became a disc. Of course this attracted the attention of the machine beast's sensors, who began to charge its beam as it aimed at him. Then without warning, Luke jumped out from behind the tree, and shot the energy. Between his Ultra Senses and intense focus, his experience of time slowed as he scanned the machine's body for a weakness, and he found it. The disc traveled and turned to slip in through the eye socket to strike a blow near the center of its electrical brain. The robot reeled up and shot its beam up into space, from inside its head there were flashes of light as sparks flew and arcs of electricity jumped about. By the time it calmed down, it looked to see that Luke was gone, and as before his sensors had no energy to lock on to. It would've rampaged again, had it not received a recall order. It stood straight up, at attention, and bent its knees and keeled over as its drill horn and claws began to spin at high speed, kicking large amounts of dirt that put out most, if not all of the fires around it. It but a moment and its dove into a the ground, like someone would dive into a pool of water, disappearing accept for the shaking ground it left in its wake, but soon even that was gone. "Looks like the fight is over..." said Vas "A shame, I would've liked to see this giant form..." The two drove over the plain to the side of the forest, watching and waiting to see what would happen. Jerris stopped the vehicle when he saw Luke walk out of the woods alive. "Huh..." he said "You're alive..." "No giant...?" said Vas in a sassy tone. Luke raised an eyebrow, and then raised his hand. His palm glowed a faint red and green glow and the wand Vas had in her hand flew up and into his. "No..." he said annoyed "Though that would've been nice to have at the time..." Luke turned towards the desert. His eyes glowed as he used his Ultra Senses, to look past the grand distance between him and the dome, to even peer into the invisible force field, and what he saw was...darkness...and he immediately retracted into shock, in surprise and pain and fell to his knees. "Woah, what's wrong with you...?" asked Jerris. "He looked into the darkness...unprepared..." said a voice. All three turned to the youth in white robes, hands clapped together and sleeves joined. Around his shoulders were a bronze, circular necklace/protector with jade and gold tiles embedded in the knitted bronze wire. His skin tone was a rich bronze hue, his hair was a mix of blonde and crimson, and while like a fire, and his eyes had a clear and obvious golden glow. Despite their radically different appearances, Jerris noted the similarity in facial features. His sister however, aimed her blaster at him. "Father...?" said Luke, still woozy "What do you mean 'darkness'...?" "Silence would a more appropriate term, silence and the end of all things, that's what's in there. His 'shield' exists to keep it contained, and beneath our notice." "What are you two talking about...?" shouted Vas. Sol looked at her. "The reason for that desert is that, that area has been spiritually unbalance, resulting a dead zone were nothing natural lives. Ergo, the desert. This phenomenon is held back by a shield, one your technology cannot detect, and which he looked into with his vast senses. However, looking into such spiritual bankruptcy is taxing on the mind." "I need you help..." said Luke. "You need to get up...I gave you nothing you cannot handle." Sol with an annoyed tone. Luke looked at him, took a deep breath and stood up. "Good boy, as for the darkness, it just needs a little light in the place." "I can't get in, and if I force my way in..." "Have you tried 'knocking', seriously were did you learn manners...?" "Father, this is no time for you to be cryptic..." "Well that's disappointing..." "What being cryptic...?" "No, you missing the obvious and glaring clue. Then again you know nothing about Phase Theory it seems, but so be it." "Oh, I know about that...!" said Jerris. "Good for you, you're not getting a cookie, however..." "Why are you here...?" asked Luke "if you're not going to do anything...?!" "Look up..." said Sol annoyed. Luke looked up, and his eyes glowed. "Oh...is that...?" "Yes..." "What...?" asked Vas. "Your Federation has decided to launch an offensive on this planet." "Why now...?" asked Luke "Who knows...well I know, and I know it's trivial. Some up and coming politician thinks this can move his career up with this and when their sensors detected that the guard dog of this system was taken down..." "They decided to move..." said Vas "So we're saved...?" as if in response, the dome became visible, a dark blue sphere that encompassed the desert. From it flew several dark humanoids, giants, who flew up with trails of dark purplish smoke and flew at high speeds up into the air into space. "You should go deal with that..." said Sol. "What are you going to do...?" "Same old." Luke grumbled before he thrusted his wand into the air. The top of it split open, to reveal a golden bust of his Ultra form, with arms crossed under his color timer, forming an X. It shined, and the light traveled down the device, to his arm and enveloped his body like a wave of energy. It happened in a flash, a red light, with green accents. As quickly as his device disappeared, he became a strange being, humanoid, but with dome eyes, and face like a mask, and a crest. The light was bright now, from his chest, and with a simple jump, he flew up into the air, at high speeds. "Huh...so he could change..." said Jerris. "He was a giant though..." said Vas defiantly. "He can change his dimensions..." said Sol in an uninterested tone. The twins looked at the strange being who stood before them. "Who are you...Luke called you 'father'..." Sol looked at her "What are you...?" "You would not believe me..." "Can you help us get in there...?" "What is beyond that barrier is beyond mortal matters...it's only poisonous to mundane life forms." Vas just raised an eyebrow. Chapter 4 Covered in light, Flare moved at high speeds, but he was already to late. The giants had already engaged the fleet. The ships were like discs, with nacelles on their sides, and domes on top. From ports all over their hulls, their weapons, blasters, emerged and fired at the giants. Their bolts of plasma, did little and their shields were quickly being overwhelmed by their dark purple beams. Flare crossed his arms, now in space and away from the planet, and the light gathered into his arms. He then swung his arms open, sending out a wave of light, that seared the skin of the giants, catching their attention and sending them after him like shark to spilled blood. "What are these things...?" asked Flare. He stopped himself, and raised his leg, letting the first of them ran his guts into his leg at high speed, before being kicked away. The rest circled him. "They are abominations..." said Sol's voice "Children of Shadows, dressed up in the shape of those of the Light, of Ultras. They are of the darkness swallowing the light, the Eldritch, the...Silence. Destroy them..." "Aren't we a zealot..." "You question the right to destroy them, but you already see, you have seen the Eldritch, the stuff of these things, you know well enough, you have no right to let them exist." Flare moved up at high speed, dodging the energy blasts they let loose. However, any counterattack was interrupted by the shower of laser beams, from the fleet. "Oh mortals...always making things worse...such as drawing the attention of things they cannot deal with." The Shadowroids had flown off after them, and Flare knew he had to attack. He fired a beam into the back of one of them, destroying it in a red explosion, before chasing after the others. "Hmmm..." said the scientist "This one seems to able to bypass their natural defenses...troubling...but Sol, you fool, you've played your card too early...! All Shadowroids, destroy the Ultraling!" The streams of miasma sped towards him, now ignoring the attacks of the vessels. In a punching motion, they fired beams of plasma/miasma at Flare. Who panicked, and pondered what to do. It was a eureka moment, 'do what he knew so well to do'. He crossed his arms, and ribbons of energy circled him, and upon opening them, he was covered in flames. He sped forward, flying through their beams, and his fire protecting him, as he crashed into the group of dark giants, that grew closer and closer together, until they collided, in a large and bright explosion the eradicated all of them, or so it seemed. On the planet's surface, Jerris and Vas covered their eyes from the bright flash, but were most surprised, when Luke appeared next to them. He came down in a small sphere of light, red green and a little yellow. It landed softly and ripples of golden light raced all over it as it morphed into Luke, who was on his knees and clearly tired. He was sweating and panting. "What was that...?" asked Vas. "That...was me blowing myself up, and reforming my body." The twins looked at each other and back to Luke, who was clearly about to fall over. "Damn it!" shouted the scientist "An Ultra Dynamite?! But no...that was too powerful, that was almost...Super Ultranoid levels...yet no other data suggests he's capable of such things...!" There was a voice that only he could hear, calling from the dark "Master...yes, he would probably still be alive, and weakened...I will send it out to end him, as for the mortals, bah, I can deal with them myself!" "Oh come now..." said Sol, with a tone of annoyance "It was just an Ultra Dynamite...whose power was amplified by the Giant Energy in your body..." "Giant what...?" asked Vas. "Junior hear, was once a natural UItranoid, until he...thoroughly disappointed me, and I took away his powers, made him...well mortal. I have given him an artificial version of the powers he wielded, infused with his own light, an artificial Ultranoid, that is partially a natural Ultranoid..." The twins looked at him confused. "Were we supposed to understand that....?" "No, I'm just in the mood to hear my own voice. That said, you really should get up..." "Are you going to be helpful...?" "Oh, but I am...I'm telling you, you need to get up...and control your energy output." Luke looked up at him, and swore under his breath. "We need to go, now!" As if in response the ground quaked. Luke made his way into the hover vehicle and Jerris moved off. They disappeared into the trees, leaving Sol behind, who stood an watch as the kaiju weapon rose up from under the ground. "Hmmm..." said Sol "I can think of a number of improvements for that design..." Luke concentrated, he took deep breaths to calm his internal energies, while in the background he could hear the sound of explosions and the stomping of something gargantuan. "You know you could help...?" Vas looked back to see Sol sitting next to Luke "How..." she said. "Cosmic Entity..." Sol said "Seriously!" "Child..." said Sol, finally serious "calm down, breathe. The artificial powers I gave you, will proliferate themselves in time. Until then...gather the light, the waves the, radiated life force around you." "What...?" "Do I look like I'm still joking...?" his father responded with a solemn tone. Luke sat up, and closed his eyes. "You may be weak, but your powers persist, and the conflict is gone within you. So stop, listen, learn." The twins could no longer hear him, but Luke could. "Let your senses reach out, and feel it, all around you, your friends, the trees, the wind, the grass, the animals, feel the prosperity around, the light they all share." Luke, Flare, meditated, and his father's words echoed, inside him, deep inside of him, and he felt, he did feel it, the energy connecting it all, a river that flowed into him. The twins only saw that Sol was gone, and the trees around them were beginning to glow, a soft, faint light, light, which focused on their friend. "This is the prosperity of this world, the gift of life which cradles the life of man and beast, born of the power of the cosmos, which was born of the Light. It may have been filtered down, mixed, changed, and transmuted, but the core of what it is, has not change, drink of it, and be strong, for you will fight for this." "That place..." "That place is where prosperity has been molested for the 'prosperity' of a few, of one. There Prosperity became stagnation, rot and all that will be left...is Silence." The machine kaiju marched after the trail of light moving through the woods, when it stopped. Instead the light rose up as a column, revealing Ultraman Flare. Chapter 5 Flare stood tall, feeling rejuvenated and strong. He took a fighting stance as he faced the beast. The monster roared and charged and the two giants locked arms and began to grapple. "How...?!" shouted the monster's controller. He watched the battle via the video feed from the beast's optics. "How can that Ultranoid be recharged at this point in time?! Is this the power of Giant Energy...no, that light from before, that glow...! Of course...Sol, does your hyprocrisy know no end? Destroy that giant, full power blast!" The machine's beast's horn began to glow as plasma began to circle around it. Seeing this Flare broke free, and leaped back. Upon landed he was on one knee and his arms began to glow. The beast fired its plasma beam, a spinning ray of energy, that hit its target causing a large explosion. Or so it thought, Flare was safe behind a shield of energy, and he stood up. "That's impossible..." said the controller. Flare took up a fighting stance again, and charged, only to be stopped in his tracks when bolts of laser fire rained down on the two. The struck him, and around him, and the machine monster, setting the forest on fire. "Hmmm..." said Sol, watching some distance away with the twins on a hill "What ungrateful wretches those mortals..." "What...?" asked Jerris "The fleet, they are firing on both of them intentionally, despite Flare having saved their hides up in space, not even an hour ago. Heck, it has not even been fifteen minutes!" "So stop them..." said Vas. "I do not interfere with free will, not directly anyways, they're going to have to deal with the consequences of their actions." "What consequences...?" Out of the smoke and fire the machine beast's horn beam shot up into the sky like a column of light. It was evident it had it its marks, as it moved about the number of laser raining down on them lessened and lessened until they were gone. "Are they...?" asked Jerris. "No..." said Sol "many have been destroyed but there are survivors who are simply damaged. Their crafts can be repaired, most of them, but I suspect they will be out of this fight. Speaking of said fight...?" Flare stood up and swung his arms open and stooped down. The crystal on his forehead flashed, as the fires around him jumped up and flowed like currents of energy, converging on his crystal as his arms started to glow red, and green and some gold lightning arced up and down his arms. The monster machine charged his beam again, and fired, and Flare, put his arms together in a cross, firing a beam. Their attacks clashed, but within Flare's beam, was righteous fury, and strength of will, and his beam overcame the spinning ray of plasma, destroying the machine in one hit. Absorbed the flames, saving what was left of the forest from the fire, then he looked around the desolation. 'Was it worth it' he thought. "If you're worried about collateral damage...?" said Sol's voice in his mind, "Then you're already much better than how enemies. However, if that makes freeze...and the end of the day, you're going to protect no one." "That sounds callous..." said Flare. He turned to Sol who was on his shoulder "Perhaps...but it sounds that way without context..." Sol pointed to the dome, visible to Flare's eyes. "What is in there...?" "Silence..." "What does that mean...?!" Flare asked annoyed. Sol looked at him and then turned back to the dome. "What causes silence...?" "Nothing 'causes' silence, silence is...huh" "There is so little light in there, so little life if at all, 'real' life. In there is an example of what they generate, what they cause, in their defiance of the light..." "What is that...?" "In the end...? Silence, but until they get there, pain, misery and death...well...a lot more than usual. And they dare to call me 'tyrannical'..." "I don't think now is the time for such a conversation..." "Indeed, go, your foe awaits..." "Wait, but..." "When you first connected to the shield that keeps in that miasma...you struck it at several kilometers per hour...just walk in..." Flare looked at his father. "Huh..." He walked forward and "Hold..." said Sol, "before you go...fix this..." "What..?" "This forest, fix it..." "I..." "Just as you drew on the light of life, you can give it. Just as you can draw on the light of stars, you and use that..." "Can this wait...?" "No..." "Why not...?" "Because I'm 'all knowing'..." "...That's not an excuse to be a smart @##!" "Like you would know." Flare grumbled and Sol, though stoic in expression, radiated a sense of...amusement. "Now...get to work..." "I don't..." "Everything you need, has already been given to...genetically, spiritually or taught to you. Now it just takes you using that rather powerful brain I saw fit to give you." "It's like you're training me..." "Life seldom stops teaching us, people...just stop trying to learn." Chapter 6 Flare's hands glowed as he clenched his fists and crossed his arms, then he opened his hands and threw his arms into the air. A circle of yellow energy formed around him and moved up into the sky. It grew larger and moved higher into the sky. This circle of energy acted as a polarizer for the EM waves in the air around him, focusing the sunlight into a brilliant beam the at came down on Flare. His body readily absorbed that energy, converting it into strength. Flare crossed his arms again, over his color timer. He called upon that sensation he felt before, but this time, instead of it coming from without, it came from within. His color timer, and hands glowed a bright white and sparkled as he swung his arms open. His hands and color timer, released sprays of silvery white light, sparkling energy that the land absorbed, that the forest metabolized as he metabolized the light, and before his eyes, trees grew, out of the dead stumps, and unnatural clearings were filled. "Enough..." said Sol. Something about that command, the solemness of it made him jump into obedience. Flare stopped. "This...is good, you have learned to manipulate the power in your own body rather well, and you've made your first steps in manipulating the energy of the land around you, and bridging the two. In time...you may learn to manipulate the energy of Worlds. For now, you shall have to settle with striking down evil." "What...what does that mean...?" "It means you are ready to enter the dome. It means you are ready to hold back the darkness without my help." Flare looked at him, and turned to the dome, and walked forward until he found himself in front of it. He raised his hands and walked forward, the tingling feeling, being a moot point for him. He stepped through the event horizon to be greeted by...Silence, and the end of all things. Unnatural darkness covered the dunes, and the sandstorms were whipped up with a black smoke, a miasma, but that was not the problem, the problem was the silence. Each sound Flare heard, was like an echo, existing only to point out the vacuous nature of the world he found himself in. It was only now that Flare truly noticed how much his senses took in, as he fell to his knees. It felt like his consciousness was expanding, but it was not enlightenment, far from it. It felt like his mind was escaping his body, only to disintegrate in the acidic blight around him. "Oh come on..." said Sol, rubbing his eyes "You already know how to deal with this...or you at least have the tools to figure it out" Flare, stopped, and despite the onslaught of madness, his powerful brain began to think and put things together. Flare's eyes flashed as he stood up. "That...that would've gone much smoother if you had told me that before I got in here!" "Knowledge earned is more valuable than knowledge given, and it stays with you. Besides, I have...expectations in you." "Do you mean faith...?" "No, 'faith' is a mortal concept. As mortal as I sometimes seem, I have expectations." Flare had no idea what he meant, instead he turned his sight to the structure in the distance, a black castle of machinery and equipment. Was it a fortress or a factory, or was it both, he could not tell. "Wait..." said Flare "Something is wrong...." He looked at his shoulder and Sol was gone, but that was not the only thing he noticed. A deep darkness was radiating from the structure at the center of the desert, it was similar to something he knew, but he could not figure it out. 'Transformation' ran through his mind, as the structure began to explode, the side of it facing Flare, crumbled and exploded as a black and blue Ultranoid seeing jumped out of it and fired an energy blast into his chest, knocking him down. The dark Ultra landed nimbly as Flare rolled and got up. He took a fighting stance and looked at the dark Ultra. It eyes were purple like its color timer, and its face was a gunmetal black with a blue tint, and a dark blue stripe that ran up with its crest. Its body, was black with markings of dark blue all over its body. It walked about, circling Flare with on hand on his hip and a pompous stride. "I am almost impressed..." said the dark Ultra, his telepathic message was broadcasted without care for who heard it. "I don't know how you recharged so quickly, but Sol's hypocrisy amuses me..." "What...?" replied Flare "What are you talking about?" "You fed off the life energy of the forest, this world, it is rich with that energy, rich with the life forces of the land, and of men!" Flare noticed them, the crumbing remnants of sky scrapers awkwardly jutting out of the sand. "Just as I used the life force to fuel my experiments, while the cloud of darkness shrouded my work from the eyes of gods!" "What are you talking about?!" The dark Ultra looked at him. "You used the land to feed yourself, just as I used the land and its people, to power my machinery and erect my shroud. We both used the ambient life energy, the same resource for our own ends. However, my 'side' of this conflict does not hold the illusion of being some 'grand arbiters of the natural order', we are at least honest with ourselves..." "You have killed people..." "So has Sol, go ahead ask him, ask him how many people have died in the name of his order?" Flare stopped and thought, and his mind turned to the last thing Sol ordered of him. "Maybe...but he gives back..." "Excuse me...?" "Sol and his order provide stability for the cosmos, structure, and protection from dark things like you. You want to rule the order of the world, but all you can do is bring about blight, darkness, death, and even when it's obvious you can't be gods of the world, you don't stop. You're too greedy, to pompous to care about what you destroy. Yeah, Sol has probably killed more people than you, maybe you and your cohorts...but he cares and he does it for a reason for more nobler than 'I want more power'. To the survivors on this world, the order before you came here, the memory of it, must be like heaven to them. You talk as if you're a freedom fighter, but here, right now, you're nothing but a 'clever devil'!" Flare took a fighting stance. The dark Ultra scoffed at his remark, wiped his thumb across his cheek. "Boy, what is your name...?" "Flare..." "Well...Flare Solson, I am Dark Strychnine and I will enjoy studying your corpse!" He said as he charged at him. Chapter 7 Strychnine ran jumped, and kicked in the air. Flare cartwheeled to the side and turned around, only to receive an outward kick to his chest. Flare stumbled back and looked up, just in time to catch Strychnine's next kick, in his arm pit. Flare slammed down on his leg, and delivered several punches to his face chest and stomach, before throwing him away by his leg. The Dark Ultra flipped into the air and landed on all fours like a cat, before getting up and firing an arc of energy that Flare barely managed to block. Already the dark Ultra was charging him, and Flare threw a punch, which he dodged by jumping over Flare, and kicking him in the back. Flare stumbled and turned and swung, but his enemy was already out of range. Purple and black energy arced up and down Strychnine's forearms and between them as he put his hands together, clenched his fists, swung his arms open, and brought them back together, fists aimed at Flare. All of the energy was translated into a sphere of energy, covered in electricity, which flew towards Flare. Flare put his arms, energy arcing between them and forming a shield of energy that blocked the blast. The attack went up in a large explosion that made Flare stumble back, but for the most part he was fine. "Heh..." said Strychnine "that's the problem with you red Ultras, always full of brawn, no brain! These blue markings aren't just for show, I am the chief artificer and scholar among our dark number, for a reason! My blue speed will run circles around you!" "Wait what...?" "It doesn't matter, the environment is to my advantage, and you, you are too slow, trying to catch me with your red form! By now, if you could have form changed you would have! This battle will be mine, just as the war will be ours!" "What are you talking about?" "Has he not told you, or...no, have you not figured it out? I'm told Sol has something of expectation for the intelligence of his creations...Ha, he sent me the dumb one..." Flare growled, and me moved to charge, but he heard a voice. "Instincts, control them, and let them guide you..." Flare stood up straight flexed and took a fighting stance. It was not his normal one, fists arm and knees slightly bent. He was lower to the ground, hands open like claws, and almost hunched over. "Heh, what is that going to do...?" Strychnine said in mockery. Flare was silent, to the annoyance of Strychnine who then charged. Flare remained immobile, before suddenly moving forward and grabbing the dark ultra's kick, holding it with both arms and turning, throwing him down on the ground. Flare fell on him, still holding his leg, but he released one arm to repeatedly elbow Strychnine in the gut and the groin. With his enemy stunned, Flare got up, his enemy's leg locked under his arm, and proceeded to thrash his enemy about like a rag doll. Finally Flare threw him away. Strychnin rolled and got up, only to receive a large arc of energy to the chest, that put him back on his back in pain. Flare put his hands in the Specium Ray position and fired a beam, striking Strychnine in the area around his lower chest, abdominal region and groin, the force of the beam sending him skidding across the ground. Even so, the dark Ultra was not dead, and Strychnine stood up, thoroughly and raging mad. He roared and in the black blighted land and darkened sandstorm around them, his roar echoed. He raised his fist, dark and sinister purple energy arced up his limp to his fist, where it began to form a sphere of oscillating energy. With a growl he knelt down and struck said fist into the ground, the energy escaping as waves of evil energy rolling across the dunes. Flare was a bit confused as to what was happening but Strychnine raised his still glowing hand as his eyes glowed, and something happened. They came like a swarm rising out of the sands, moving as one to attempt to hold down Flare by his legs. Flare jumped back and spun in the air before landing, throwing them off by momentum and then he got a look at them. They were humanoids, with skin clearly grey with sickly green veins, blackened eyes and gaunt appearances, their hair was all white and their clothes were tattered. "What...?" Flare did not finish his sentence, he figured who, what these 'were'. He remembered that this desert was once the location of a city. "And this, this makes makes you better than him..?!" "Why not, even you father has dabbled in necromancy, so I hear." "My 'father' sent me here, to put the likes of you down, and I have yet to be shown anything to make me second guess that order." "Then die in ignorance..." They moved as one, as a flood of corpses that quickly overtook Flare. Something about them, their presence, their nature, or maybe how they were animated, made them like ants on his skin, biting, stinging. Flare struggled about, trying to swipe them off, throw them off. Instead more just came. "Don't bother, these things hunger for life, hunger for the light of your life force!" Flare stopped, and then raised his hands, outstretching his palms to the sky. "What are you doing...?" Flare said nothing and instead maintained his stance, even as the creatures continued to pester him. Annoyed at being ignored, Strychnine fired his dark version of the Specium ray, sinister purple particles speeding towards the target in a stream of black energy, hitting Flare in the chest. Like no other attack before, that burned, it stung something fierce, and knocked him over onto the ground and sent him skidding backwards. Even with several of the zombies thrown off Flare, chest was aflame with pain but now it was a strangely, nostalgic pain. "You think..." said Strychnine "that your father cured you of the dark curse...he didn't. I know about you Flare. No you're father simply changed your composition that you don't notice it, that was curse was after all...meant for meant for a Cinder Ultranoid, not what ever hybrid abomination you are. Part normal Ultra, part synthetic giant, and a small part of Cinderhood remains, but mixed in there is that darkness, Uzil's curse!" Flare got up, and stood up, raising his hands again. "What are you even trying to achieve...?!" "Light... to counter the darkness!" Outside the desert, Sol, Vas and Jerris looked at it, even the soldiers who had just exited the troop transports. In space, the remaining ships, the captains and their crew and whoever was at the right window at the time looked down and saw it, above the center of the desolation. Even Strychnine had the sense to look up now, and he saw it. A ring of golden light had formed and as the sun moved ever closer the ring got brighter, for now was the moment when the sun was at its highest, when it was right above everyone in the center of the sky, the hottest, the brightest time of the day, and the ring funnel all of that down on Flare like a shower of golden light. The crystal on his forehead and his color timer glowed as all the energy around him flowed like ribbons of energy entering his color timer and crystal to be metabolized. It was at this point Flare himself was glowing with a golden aura, the zombie on his having long since turned to ashes in the presence of such holy energies. "That's...that's impossible!" shouted Strychnine who was somewhat familiar with the power of this 'glittering form'. "I have learned something, my father has faith in me, so maybe I should have faith in him, that he knows what he's doing, he is after all 'all-knowing'...?" said Flare with a mocking tone at the end. "Son of a-" Flare crossed his arms and swung them open. The barrier became visible, a blue dome that dissolved allowing black miasma to escape, but before it could do anything golden light erupted outward and upward. "Huh..." said the figure next to Sol. The heavenly white robes were crowned by a black helmet from which primarily green, but also other color flames occasional, belched out from under as it spoke. Over it robes it wore a black chest piece and shoulder guards, each piece of metal looking like it belong to another suit except that they were all black "If my calculations are correct..." "They are..." said Sol having no need to look at him "Then that kid of yours just unleashed the kind of power that would require three...hmmm elite or veteran Ultra Warriors..." "Indeed..." "That is Super Ultra level..." said another being in white. It bore the black elongated head, of a strange creature, with an open mouth that never moved, black visors for eyes, and tentacles along the side of its head. It sported gunmetal black bands of metal around his shoulders and upper chest/back, lines of metal marked by arcane markings. "As the Miasma Ultranoid said.." spoke Sol "Flare is a cross between, a genuine Ultra, a synthetic giant based on my Giant Energy and some part of him is still and has always been Cinder Ultra. He may not be Super Ultra levels of power yet, but that potential more than exists." "Excuse me...!" said the politician, a man in white uniform with a white cape "If one of those giants is your 'son' then I think you owe me..." Both Akreious and Z, the two beings beside Sol, respectively, inched away in a mixture of surprise and fear, or the closest approximation such beings could feel, as they sense Sol's emotion and so did everyone else. As Sol's head turned around, clearly breaking into pieces what would've been a mortal neck, and his eyeballs became bloodshot. As the glow of his eyes became bright to the point of oppressive and he positioning of his eyebrows spoke of internal rage, an unnatural sense of horror filled the air, as the official was struck by what he could only guess was the bloodlust and rage of a thousand different crusades and just as many genocides. "I think I'll leave you lot alone..." Like that Sol's countenance returned to its normal stature, and the oppressive sensation filling the air faded, just as the display in the distance also faded. His head continued its rotation, again facing forward, as if his neck should not be a menagerie of torn muscle and dislocated neck bones. "Ya know..." said Akreious "I almost forgot why you work so hard to stifle your emotions." Chapter 8 In the pit it shrieked, a large grey octopus like creature, it had the wrinkly face of an old man, but its 'beard' was tentacles. Around one tentacle was a chain forged of golden light, holding it in that deep oppressive darkness. "Something wrong Uzil...?" said a woman's voice "Sound as if you were just electrocuted, did...?" "Yes..." said Uzil's garbled voice "arcane feedback, one of my curses was shattered by force of will and an onslaught of the wretched light, Sol's 'golden boy' is disconnected from me." "How...?" "Who know...but things...bother me..." "What do you mean...?" "Sol could've removed that curse, he is all-knowing, he knows what he wants to know, so long as there is enough 'light' around the subject. Yet he didn't, I dare say...he wanted the boy to do it on his own." "So, he has often desired agency from his spawn..." "This is different, I dare say...Sol has plans for that boy..." "You don't think...?" "I think, I think Sol is paranoid. He doesn't need to be cosmically aware to know that he is a prime target, no, he has long been preparing for war, for the day when his garden burns in fires not his own. The other thing that bothered me..." "What...?" "I...heard a voice..." "A voice...?" "A voice...sounded like Flare's, it was when he was in an area edging towards the darkness. It was like Flare's but it was not his, it was blatant but clearly not his, like...a Prince's voice, and it spoke of things few should know, and I know it was not our friend...worse it felt..." "What...?" "Dark...no...Darker" The figure dragged himself across the plains, a humanoid with a black bowl cut, pointed ears and angular eyebrows. He wore a lab coat over his grey and blue body suit. The bright blue sky, the grass that almost sparkled, it all bothered him. Yet there insults to the injuries he had just received, his dark, necrotic powers had been reduced to a mere spark, but they would recover, given time. However, as he came upon a white robe and looked up at Sol, he knee he did not have said time. He looked at the divine being and sneered. "You think you've won here...?" "Do you like you just got hit by a shining, golden train...?" Sol retorted, stoic but his mockery was still obvious. "Tell me, what's the difference, both sides makes use of life itself for their gains, both sides are going to destroy lives, so what's the difference?!" "Yes, I have destroyed lives, much more than you, but I don't do my grand and small deeds for so petty an excuse as 'my ambitions'. When I burn a world, when I burn a field...it will grow back, when you blight a field, that is it. I turn the Great Wheel, you cover it in the muck of heresy. I respect the lives lost, you see them as...a resource to be used and abused. In the end...you're all just petty things mad that you dwell in our shadows..." "Heh, well said shadows, one day, they will swallow you..." "I know..." Strychnine was surprised "What...?" "Common sense alone tells me how this will end." "Then how can you just...stand there so calm...?!" "Because I know things, many things, more than you, like how to go out with some dignity...I 'wonder', do you?" "Huh...I guess not..." said Sol, on the hill over looking that large expanse of green that was once the desert created by blight. In his arms was Luke, unconscious, but alive. The other two were gone and he was looking at the golden flash in the distance, when Luke began to stir. He looked up at his father. "Yo..." Luke exclaimed as he was startled and fell out of Sol's hands, who simply but his sleeves together again. "What, where, how...?!" "You used a variation of the technique I taught you to stop Dark Strychnine, you're out on this hill near the home of the twins, and I am Sol, what do you mean 'how'?" "Uhm...excuse me..." said the official again, this time with a much more polite if...sycophantic tone "Will someone please explain what is going on...?" Luke blocked him out as he turned to the twins looking at the green. He walked over to them as the politician spoke to Sol, who was clearly annoyed with him. The two had teary eyes. "You guys...okay...?" he asked. "Fine..." said Jerris "It's just..." "This reminds me of our family picnics..." finished Vas "We used to come out here, our parents would take us, and we took our kids. Last time, our came with us, our dad, he told such joke, he was so silly...I guess he knew he only had so much time..." "I wish they were here..." "Me to..." Luke minds returned to those words, 'the venom that felled him, was not the snake's'. He thought back to how Sol was for all of this, somewhat more...jovial, lighthearted than his usual serious self. "Dad..." Sol put a finger up in front of the politician, immediately rendering him mute, a fact that he was surprised by and began to panic over. "Yes...?" "Is something wrong...?" "It's a wide universe, there is always something 'wrong'." Luke raised an eyebrow. "Where to next...?" "Hmmm, just fly about and help people, maybe the survivors up in those ships..." Luke was silent for a moment, then draw his wand and transformed, shooting up into space as a red light with accents of green and yellow. Everyone but Sol and the twins was surprised by this and Sol put his finger down and put his sleeves back together. "You know..." said the official, his voice restored "I know when someone is hiding something. "No doubt..." Sol replied "What are you hiding from the boy..." "Little man, what I am 'hiding', would break your little mind. Ignorance is bliss for he who increases knowledge increases sorrow...now imagine what it's like to be all-knowing..." Category:Ultraman Flare Category:SolZen321 Category:Fan Episodes Category:Metaverse Series Category:Completed Works